


Repeat As Necessary

by Roga



Category: Discworld, Hebrew Bible
Genre: Community: daysofawesome, Crossover, Gen, Jewish Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-09-17
Updated: 2007-09-17
Packaged: 2017-10-05 12:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roga/pseuds/Roga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gedaliah dies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Repeat As Necessary

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [](http://queenzulu.livejournal.com/profile)[**queenzulu**](http://queenzulu.livejournal.com/) for the beta. Written for the second day of [](http://community.livejournal.com/daysofawesome/profile)[](http://community.livejournal.com/daysofawesome/)**daysofawesome**.

 

  


  
_וַיְהִי בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי,_ _בָּא יִשְׁמָעֵאל בֶּ__ן-נְתַנְיָה בֶן-אֱלִישָׁמָע מִזֶּרַע הַמְּלוּכָה וְרַבֵּי הַמֶּלֶךְ וַעֲשָׂרָה אֲנָשִׁים אִתּוֹ אֶל-גְּדַלְיָהוּ_ _בֶן-אֲחִיקָם_—_הַמִּצְפָּתָה; וַיֹּאכְלוּ שָׁם לֶחֶם יַחְדָּו, בַּמִּצְפָּה._  
_וַיָּקָם יִשְׁמָעֵאל בֶּן-נְתַנְיָה וַעֲשֶׂרֶת הָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר-הָיוּ אִתּוֹ, וַיַּכּוּ אֶת-גְּדַלְיָהוּ בֶן-אֲחִיקָם בֶּן-שָׁפָן בַּחֶרֶב__—__וַיָּמֶת אֹתוֹ—ה_  


  
_  
Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and one of the chief officers of the king, and ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah._

_Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him—_

Death waited.

The sun was setting low in the sky. Pink shafts of light pierced through a row of olive trees, crisscrossing the ground with bright strips and splotches of light.

The governor rose.

“Well,” he said, after the uncomfortable silence of noticing how unattractive your backside was and then realizing _why _you were able to notice it in the first place, “that certainly puts a damper on the holiday.” He turned to Death. “Did anyone else make it?”

Death shook his skull. **HE WAS QUITE THOROUGH**, he said neutrally.

Gedaliah’s face fell. “So it was Ishmael, after all. A descendant of David. I never thought he’d actually do it.” He tried kicking a stone, but his foot passed right through.

**YOU ARE THE FIRST OF YOUR KIND TO BE DECEIVED BY A FRIEND. ** **Y** ** OU WILL NOT BE THE LAST. **

“What do you mean, ‘of my kind’?”

**RULERS. SOVEREIGHNS. EMPERORS.** _Presidents_, Death was about to say, before remembering they didn’t exist yet. **IT HAS TO DO WITH POLITICS. ****A****ND POSSIBLY QUANTUM.** Because in the end, everything did.

Gedaliah considered this. Eagles were already beginning to circle above. “So what happens next?”

**THAT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU BELIEVE.**

“No, I mean,” Gedaliah clarified, looking agitated, “what happens to the people? If the Chaldeans who were with me were murdered too, the King of Babylon will want retribution. They won’t be able to stay.”

**PROBABLY NOT**, Death agreed.

The governor faltered. “So... what, they’ll flee? Leave the land?” His eyes were wide and helpless.

Death looked at history, stretching backward and forward and to the sides. Not a timeline, but a time plane, with people and choices and politics and _assassinations _and the shifting plates of the continents all rippling the surface in organized chaos, always forming the same patterns, over and over again. Death watched, until he found the pattern he was looking for.

**THEY WILL LEAVE. ****T****HEY WILL RETURN. ****A****N APPROPRIATE PHRASE IS, I BELIEVE, RINSE AND REPEAT**. Gedaliah looked confused, so Death tried again. **REWIND AND REPEAT?**

“Do you mean, this isn’t the end?”

Death raised his scythe dramatically, because when you’re a seven-foot-tall skeleton wearing a black robe, there is very little you can do that won’t come across as dramatic. **FOR YOU, IT IS.**

Gedaliah moved his gaze from the scythe to the scattered bodies around, and sighed a little gloomily. “I just wanted to keep living here in peace. I hope they remember that.”

**THEY WILL EVEN FAST**, Death promised, and swung.

The last rays of sun disappeared from the sky.

On the ground, Death felt a little tug on his robes.

**SQUEAK?**

He allowed the Death of Rats to climb on his shoulder. **I DO NOT KNOW**, he answered. **I AM SURE THE REST WILL BE WRITTEN IN THE ****C****HRONICLES.**

SQUEAK.

FINE, THEN. YOU CAN WAIT FOR THE MOTION PICTURE.

~*~

**Author's Note:**

> The Hebrew text at the top is identical to the English one, and quoted directly from Jeremiah chapter 41, 1-2. The murder of Gedaliah and subsequent desertion of Judea by the Jews is the reason for the [Fast of Gedaliah](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_of_Gedalia).


End file.
